Last year, I had the ugliest phone conversation with an older workmate. Well, that’s just a few months ago actually. I think its the ugliest I’ve ever had with anyone really. Coz I was screaming. When I scream then just know I’ve totally lost it. And I am not easy to lose control of my temper. I could take all your crap forever but when I scream then run. Run I am telling you because the world is about to collapse on you 😀
(There’s a moral to be learnt from the story but to give context I have to rewind a bit. So keep reading please?)
It was actually a very petty issue but I had taken enough crap already from this lady because she is older and I respected her. But then on this fine evening, I exploded. Second thing, I never ever hang up on anyone but with this human being, I did, in the middle of her rumbling. My hands were shaky. My voice was shaky. Hell, my entire body was shaken up. I was crying and having a panic attack for those who know what that is. My mother, brother and sister were right at the door to my room staring at me wondering what had just happened. I was really terrified.
Anyway, to cut the long story short, for the next several days, whenever i’d hear my phone ring, my heart would skip a beat. Jokes aside. This is literal. My phone would ring and I would just stare at the phone for a few minutes contemplating whether to pick it up. Even when it was my friends, I would just stare. I would hesitate and sometimes even let it ring until it stopped on its own then send them a text afterwards. When it was a new number, I would be even more nervous. Taking an entire moment, hoping they would hang up before I pick. My workmate had called me with a new number so that resulted to the higher skepticism. For a while it didn’t strike me why. I have always hated phone calls (hint to all those who call me :p ) so it was no shocker that I didn’t want to pick. But this was different. This wasn’t just about me being uncomfortable to phone calls and then it dawned on me. It was about the lady screaming on the phone. My subconscious was still stuck in that conversation. It was me shouting at the top of my voice. I hated that image and it had stuck in my head.
I swear when a new number called, I would say bismillah bismillah bismillah several times before picking regardless of who the caller was (Okay this sounds funny now 😀 ) That’s how deeply affected I was. Now calm your horses y’all life coaches. I’ve heard it all my life, ‘Don’t allow people’s words crash you.’ ‘Don’t be weak’. ‘Don’t take things to heart’. But well guess what? Some of us weren’t exactly wired as you are. Take it to be weakness or being afraid or whichever way you decide to interpret it, but my profile reads ‘voice of the voiceless’ so here I am, speaking out loudly, ready to receive all the backlash 😀
My point is…To be honest, there are places I totally avoid, people I never let my eyes meet theirs, conversations I walk away from, just because at one perfect day, someone out there totally ruined my image of that place, of that person or of that topic. And trust me, it doesn’t matter if someone apologizes, that thing will never be the same for me. Ever. And that’s just how it is for me. Simply because I don’t ever want to go to a beautiful place to be happy and then poof! just like that, my super active mind will take me down the memory lane and remind me ‘do you remember this is the place this and this happened?’ I know many people don’t get it but for some of us, the pain runs way way deeper to the core. It is not easy to dismiss it or bury it, so we live with it. (Of course this depends with the magnitude of the matter in hand. I won’t stop going all places coz of some heartless people.)
I know a young teenage girl of about 10/11 years who has teeth that are a bit more outward than they should be and several of her school mates would always tease her about it. Sad to say, the girl stopped smiling. Especially when one of her closest friends once told her in mid-sentence ‘Just stop talking. Close your mouth.’ I felt that. I really really felt that. Because now she’s never going to believe that she has a beautiful smile. She is always serious and even when she laughs, her hands are always covering her mouth. I know about all the self-love talks people preach about. But don’t you think it would be easier if people were keener with their words? With their actions? With how they treat other people? Isn’t it easier to adopt self love willingly rather than having to fix your self image first?
I didn’t want to write about this because my entire life has been about this. Being deeply affected by how people treated me and everyone would still point out how I should just forget or not take things seriously or whatever. I remember some even making jokes about it like ‘hey don’t tease her. She could just start crying.’ and they’d just laugh about it 😀 Geez some people though 😀 They thought they were being funny by saying that, let’s all laugh at their sweet, naive souls 😀
Okay fine. Its a weakness I should work on but what about these other people. What about all these other people that become the reason we avoid places or get nervous for phone conversations. Who talks to these people? Who tells them that they are crashing people’s spirits? Who corrects them?
I think we as human beings really take for granted what kind of effect we have on other people. So on behalf of all my fellow cry babies (y’all can thank me later), I have today revealed what most of us never speak out loud. Be kind y’all. The world is cold enough. Let us have more compassionate, empathetic people rather than cruel, egocentric, narcissistic jerks.
#RightsForTheCryBabies 😀 #KindnessFirst
P.S. If I wasn’t picking your calls, count this as the official apology. Please text next time 🙂
